What do you do when you can’t find an easy-to-use manual for your GPS? If you have a background in aviation and technical writing, like John Dittmer, you write one of your own. That’s what the instructor pilot did about 11 years ago when his clients had trouble learning to use the Bendix/King KLN90B GPS. […]
Fly the plane! Today’s avionics are great, but pilots still need stick and rudder skills
“Don’t forget to fly the airplane!” How many times have you heard a CFI say that? It sounds like such a simple instruction, yet when faced with a cockpit full of state-of-the-art avionics, a pilot sometimes forgets this important task. Instead, he or she is absorbed in pushing buttons and twisting knobs to program the […]
A successful Quest: The company enters a new phaseas deliveries of its Kodiak begin
“We’ve worked really hard. Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know when you are heading into one of these certification programs, and that makes it really hard to predict. Everyone falls into the trap of being maybe a little too irrationally exuberant.” Paul Schaller, president and CEO of Quest Aircraft, made that comment last […]
Maine airport on chopping block: Mayor says B19 used by just five people, so city can’t ‘subsidize’ it
Citizens of Biddeford, Maine, may soon be voting on a referendum to close the local general aviation airport. Biddeford Municipal Airport (B19) was built in the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration project. The airport, which sits on 126 acres about two miles from Biddeford, is owned by the city. Over the years, its footprint […]
Adam Aircraft Suspends operations
Adam Aircraft Industries suspended operations at its facilities in Colorado on Feb. 11. According to a statement from the company, “this measure was required due to the inability of the company to come to terms with their lender for funding necessary to maintain business operations.” The statement added that the company is currently exploring all […]
Texas company builds commercial test cell
Red River Turbines, a noted turbine engine overhaul firm, is building “the world’s first commercial engine test cell,” according to Steve Woolstenhulme, president. Construction of the $1.6 million test cell at North Texas Regional Airport/Perrin Field in Sherman will enable the company to complete the entire engine overhaul process at a single location, he noted. […]
FAA adds simulators to controller training
The FAA will deploy new air traffic control tower simulators to 19 locations around the country to help train new controllers. The new simulators will be deployed over the next 18 months at towers at John F. Kennedy; Los Angeles; Oakland, Calif.; Washington Reagan National; Dallas Fort-Worth; Atlanta; Denver; Philadelphia; Cincinnati; Cleveland; San Antonio; Memphis; […]
King Air goes glass
Three Kansas City-based companies — Executive Beechcraft, Garmin International and Data Systems International Inc. — recently formed a trifecta to become the first to retrofit a King Air C90 with Garmin’s G1000. The first King Air in the country to have the system installed is owned by Data Systems International, Inc.’s founder and CEO, Mike […]
Kids prepare for world record tribute to Tuskegee Airmen
Young people at Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM) in Compton, Calif., are celebrating Black History Month by preparing to set new aviation world records. Kelly Anyadiki, 16, will attempt to become the youngest African American female to solo seven airplanes on the same day, while 16-year old Jonathan Strickland will attempt to solo seven airplanes and […]